SEARCH ARTICLE

10 Pages : 91-98

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(V-III).10      10.31703/gssr.2020(V-III).10      Published : Sep 2020

Towards Harmonizing the Mythic and The Modern in Erdrichs Tracks: A Magical Realist Perspective

    This article is an endeavor to provide an insight into Native American novelist Louise Erdrich's use of the magical-realist technique in an attempt to harmonize the mythic and modern conceptions of reality represented by the Native American and Euro American subjects, respectively. The article demonstrates that in an attempt to seek a way possible to intertwine the two cultures, to wed the Native and the European ideologies of the world into accommodative space and to strike out the all-pervasive differences between the two people inhabiting the same land, Erdrich delves into the structuring principles of each culture's conceptualizing and internalizing the reality and the faith in it, and presents them as simultaneous albeit contrary versions of the same events, suggesting the possibility of simultaneous and harmonious co-existence of the two views, each retaining its essential outlook and yet respecting and accommodating the other. Employing Bower and Paula Gunn Allen's theoretical postulations of magical realism as a particular discourse embedded in the mythic and cultural beliefs of the Native American subjects, the article explores the mythic and modern formulations of female identity in Native American magical-realist fiction Tracks.

    Magical Realism, Myth, Native American Woman, Oral Tradition, Storytelling
    (1) Mumtaz Ahmad
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government Guru Nanak Postgraduate College, Nankana Sahib, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (2) Asma Haseeb Qazi
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (3) Sahar Javaid
    Lecturer, Department of English, Government College University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

49 Pages : 516-522

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(V-II).49      10.31703/gssr.2020(V-II).49      Published : Jun 2020

North American Aboriginal Philosophy of History: A Historical Thick Interpretation of Deloria's God Is Red

    Native American history, for its ceremonial/cyclic time sequence, is often seen as a part of Native American mythology. Regarding civilization, Euro-American historians compare it with Reason, and hence, undermine the view of Native American history as the factual assessment of the aboriginal world. Deriving methodical approaches from the insights of Norman K. Denzin, this article aims to explore within the domain of Native American non-literary writings the nature of Native American history. The analysis of the methodical connection between historical thick interpretation and its praxis in Native American historiography illustrates the dynamics of Native American philosophy of history disregarded by Eurocentrism. This analysis employs critical techniques anchored in the historical thick inscription proposed by Denzin to understand the philosophy of Native American history Vine Deloria Jr. represents in God Is Red concerning modern historiographical modes.

    Historical Thick Interpretation, Historiography, History, Native American Literature, Philosophy
    (1) Qasim Shafiq
    PhD Candidate, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (2) Sahar Javaid
    Lecturer in English, Department of English, Government College University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (3) Sadia Waheed
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government College Women University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

63 Pages : 517-524

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2019(IV-IV).63      10.31703/gssr.2019(IV-IV).63      Published : Dec 2019

Longing for Belonging in Erdrich's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

    part from its predecessors Tracks and Four Souls, Louise Erdrich's Last Report on the Miracle sat Little No Horse does not narrate the struggle and suffering of natives to preserve native lands,traditions, and culture, but the auto/biographical notes of the leading characters of the novel, their longing and belonging for/to the particular places or people. Both non-Native and native narratives of the novel critically engage this claim that Erdrich approaches indigenous values from many perspectives: the liminal, native, or western.This study claims that the contemporary tribal view of the indigenous culture cannot be restricted to pure Native American voice but is also determined by Euro-American voice because the contemporary Native American culture is the interaction of Native and non-Native elements.

    Belonging, Erdrich, Euro- American Voice, Native American Culture, Oral Tradition.
    (1) Nafees Pervez
    PhD Scholar, Department of English, Government College University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (2) Sidra Khalil
    Lecture in English, Department of English, Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
    (3) Muhammad Asaf Amir
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.

06 Pages : 48-56

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-I).06      10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-I).06      Published : Mar 2021

Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved

    This article, evaluating the usefulness and applicability of the ecofeminist tenets upon the environmental fiction of Erdrich and Morrison, creates a new understanding of the preservation of the environment for engendering a more egalitarian relationship between humanity and nature. It presents the critique of the ways Toni Morrison and Louise Erdrich engage with the environmental themes and motifs using the historical connections of their communities with nature as a reference point via eco-performative texts. The overall scheme of the article, therefore, denies the anthropocentric approach upheld by the Euro-American world towards the environment and glorifies the biocentric approach revered and celebrated by the Native American and AfroAmerican lifestyle, emphasizing that in the cosmic scheme of nature, not just humans but non-humans, nature and environment are equal partners. The study concludes that Morrison and Erdrich have stressed in their fiction the ecocritical recognition of the inevitable interdependence of man and nature. Their fiction asserts that considering environmental issues to be human issues can positively affect the human attitude towards nature/environment.

    Afro-American, Ecofeminism, Eco-Performative Texts, Environment, Native American
    (1) Mumtaz Ahmad
    PhD Scholar, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (2) Nighat Ahmad
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (3) Amara Javed
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government College Woman University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

30 Pages : 298-305

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-I).30      10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-I).30      Published : Mar 2021

Native American Woman's Phenomenological Experience of Space and Place in Erdrich's Tracks

    This study discusses Native American woman's experience of existential outsideness, which is caused by the Euro-American legislative act as represented by Louise Erdrich in her novel Tracks. This research analyzes the role of the Dawes Act of 1887 in triggering the experience of existential outsideness among the Native Americans in general and Native American women in particular. Through Edward Casey Ralph's phenomenological perspective on the notion of spatiality, the study reinterprets the representation of space and place in Louise Erdrich's Tracks. The study offers a spatial reading of a Native American woman's life to explicate how she confronts the issues related to the confiscation of her ancestral lands that trigger her experience of existential outsideness to her land. The study concludes that Euro-American policies of acculturation and assimilation thwarted spatioexistential experiences of Native American women.

    Dawes Act of 1887, Louise Erdrich, Native American Woman, Space and Place, Spatiality
    (1) Fasih ur Rehman
    Lecturer, Department of English, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, KP, Pakistan.
    (2) Sahar Javaid
    Lecturer, Department of English, Government College University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (3) Quratulain Mumtaz
    Lecturer, Department of English, Riphah International University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

01 Pages : 1-8

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-III).01      10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-III).01      Published : Sep 2021

Experience of Out-of-Placeness in Diane Glancy's The Reason for Crows

    With the theory of Moss and Dyck, this study discusses Diane Glancy's The Reason for Crows to understand the insinuations of sensuous geography. This study maintains how in the wake of out-of-place identity within Native American space, Glancy uses sensory experiences as material practices to counter a sense of out-of-placeness. Such multisensory experiences help her native characters locate themselves in both the textual and Native American space. This study explores Diane Glancy's The Reason for Crows not only to find out the reasons due to which the Native Americans develop an acute sense of out-of-placeness within Native American spaces but also the geographies of illness and disability to investigate how Native Americans create and contest their space and place.

    Body, Diane Glance, Native American Woman, Place, Space
    (1) Fasih ur Rehman
    Lecturer, Department of English, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, KP, Pakistan.
    (2) Muhammad Owais Ifzal
    Lecturer, Department of English, Government College University Faisalabad, Hafizabad Campus, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (3) Rao Aisha Sadiq
    Lecturer, Department of English, Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.

07 Pages : 59-71

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-III).07      10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-III).07      Published : Sep 2021

Populism in the United States: Binary Constructions by Donald Trump in the Domestic and Foreign Policies

    This study intends to explore the rise of Donald Trump to the White House. Why was Donald Trump considered a populist leader, and how did his populist rhetoric and actions impact the contours of American domestic and foreign policies? The study adopted qualitative exploratory and explanatory research techniques. Specific methods utilised to conduct the study remained political personality profiling. It finds that the populist leaders construct the binaries in the society by dividing the nation into two groups: 'us' the people, against 'them' the corrupt elite or other groups presented as a threat to the lives and livelihood of the nation. Though populism as a unique brand of politics remained active through most of the US history, yet these were only two occasions that populists were successful in winning the American presidential elections -Andrew Jackson in 1828 and Donald Trump in 2016. Structural and historical reasons became the biggest cause behind the election of Donald Trump, who successfully brought a revolution in American domestic and foreign policies. And if structural issues in the United States are not addressed, there is a clear chance that Trump - who is not withering away- will come back to contest and challenge any competitors in the 2024 presidential elections.

    Populism, Jacksonianism, Donald Trump, American First, the US Versus them, Free Riders
    (1) Muhammad Nadeem Mirza
    Faculty Member, School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (2) Lubna Abid Ali
    Dean, Faculty of Contemporary Studies, National Defence University Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (3) Irfan Hasnain Qaisrani
    Faculty Member, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bahria University Islamabad, Pakistan.

04 Pages : 43-48

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2025(X-I).04      10.31703/gssr.2025(X-I).04      Published : Mar 2025

The Influence of Karl Marx’s Ecological Insights in the Works of Selected Literary Writers

    A significant issue facing humanity now is the ecological disaster as a result of the transformation of natural processes into splintered, unchanging mechanisms designed for individual accumulation. Therefore, we can say that the issue of nature is an issue to the capital.  The significant developments in ecosocialist theory cast light upon the ongoing prominence of Marx's metabolic as well as materialist approach to understanding the colloquial swap concerning nature and humans which additionally include the ecological rifts and their creation inside ecosystems. This paper explores the influence of Marx's views on ecological crisis due to capitalism in the literary works of British, American, and Indian poets. The findings of the study indicate Marx's influence on these writers. Besides, this influence of Marx on the literary circle also reflects Marx's ideas as universal and relevant to all fields of all ages.

    Ecological Disaster, Karl Marx, English, American, Indian, Poets, Writers
    (1) Saman Salah
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan.
    (2) Khair- Un-Nisa Azeem
    Mphil Scholar, Department of English, Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan.
    (3) Durdana Rafique
    Assistant professor, Department of English, University of Turbat Balochistan, Balochistan, Pakistan.